In this paper, I examine the existence and roles of state dependence and switching costs in the mass transition from MySpace to Facebook during the 2007-2008 time period. Using a dataset that compiles individual browsing behavior and a discrete multinomial logit model, I find precise, yet extremely small amounts of state dependence for users of only MySpace, of only Facebook, and users of both MySpace and Facebook. Positive state dependence directly implies the existence of switching costs for each firm. While there is an abundance of literature regarding switching costs in the brick and mortar setting with tangible products and services, my work extends similar analysis to the relatively new online, social networking industry by studying consumer usage trends of the two networking powerhouses: MySpace and Facebook.

Aquatic organisms in response to toxic insults from environmental pollutants activate defence systems including the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) in an attempt to metabolize and excrete these toxicants and their metabolites. These detoxification mechanisms however may come with certain energetic costs. I hypothesize that the activation of the AhR by β-Naphthoflavone (β-NF), a model AhR agonist, results in increased energetic costs requiring metabolic reorganization in rainbow trout hepatocytes. While the results obtained suggest that there are no significant energetic costs of AhR activation, analysis of enzyme activities suggests possible metabolic reorganization. This study also showed significant changes in cellular processes in hepatocytes over the incubation periods which previously were not reported. Furthermore, for the first time in fish hepatocytes, metabolic flux analysis (MFA) was used to examine intra-cellular metabolism, the applicability of which is discussed.

This special issue was prepared within the framework of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) Task Force on “Size and Burden of Mental Disorders in Europe”. The core aim of the Task Force was to describe the prevalence and the burden of treated and untreated mental disorders in all European member states and to highlight needs for further research. Ten state-of-theart epidemiological papers summarize the outcome of this project, making an attempt to provide for the first time ever prevalence estimates for a wide range of mental disorders, as well as for dementia and Parkinson’s disease in 28 European countries. These data also provide input for the European Brain Council (EBC, http://www.ebc-eurobrain. net) Initiative “Cost of Disorders of the Brain in Europe” aiming at estimating the cost of major classes of mental, neurological and neurosurgical disorders and conditions in Europe.

Currently, the labeling of functional food products is highly regulated in Canada. Although certain nutrient content claims and five generic health claims have been allowed, the inability to make additional nutrient content and health claims decreases functional food firms incentives to produce and commercialize new and healthy food products. This, in turn, has consequences for functional food demand, consumer welfare, and health care costs. The primary objective of this thesis is to examine the potential welfare implications of functional food labeling for Canadian society.<p>A benefit cost analysis is conducted to examine a specific case study of omega-3 enriched eggs. The benefit cost analysis evaluates the welfare effects of functional food labeling policy and helps realize the magnitude of potential benefits that could be gained if not for restrictive and complicated labeling regulations. Based on a range of assumptions and using three different scenarios to cover a range of estimates, the health benefits from the reduction in the risk of coronary heart disease due to the current consumption of omega-3 enriched eggs, and the production and labeling-related costs are estimated. By comparing the estimated benefits and costs, the results indicate that the current consumption of omega-3 enriched eggs provides a considerable net economic gain. Therefore, labeling information on health components can contribute to facilitating a healthy lifestyle with reduced medical costs, stimulating agricultural innovation, and increasing economic welfare.<p>Realizing the positive overall impact that the current consumption of omega-3 enriched eggs has on consumers health and economy in Canada, a possible policy that could regulate all eggs to be enriched with omega-3 fatty acids is proposed. This policy could potentially be used to correct not only information asymmetry but also the negative externalities that are created by health and disability insurances. The benefit cost analysis show that the health benefits would be greatly increased while costs would slightly increase due to reduced labeling-related costs. Therefore, the results indicate that the net economic gain is even stronger if the mandatory development of omega-3 enriched eggs were required.

My study examines the effect of regulatory pressures on the earnings management behavior of nonprofit (i.e., tax-exempt) hospitals. Prior research provides evidence that managers of nonprofit hospitals manage reported earnings to a range just above zero profit in order to conform to regulator low or zero profit expectations. I extend this research by investigating how reported performance on another accounting measure important to regulators, (i.e., charity care), further explains the earnings management behavior of nonprofit hospitals. Specifically, I develop theory to predict that nonprofit hospitals use discretionary accruals to manage positive earnings toward regulator low profit expectations less aggressively when reported performance on charity care is higher than regulator expectations. The intuition behind this prediction is that nonprofit hospital managers can benefit from reporting higher earnings (from profit-based compensation and/or enhanced reputations for operational efficiency), however, they must balance this against the costs of regulatory scrutiny. Results are consistent with my prediction. Further, I validate that my results are not alternatively explained by the mechanical relationship of my test variables, the general hospital economic environment, and/or the specific reporting environment of my sample firms. I do so by comparing the earnings management behavior of nonprofit hospitals to that of for-profit hospitals. Overall, results suggest that nonprofit managers strategically manage earnings higher when their firms are less vulnerable to regulator scrutiny of their reported chairy care. As such, my study contributes to the earnings management literature and has policy implications important to regulators, especially given the current U.S. healthcare environment.

We investigate whether multiple large shareholders (MLS) play an internal corporate governance role in mitigating agency problems between the controlling shareholder and minority shareholders in a cross-country sample of public firms. We draw our conclusion by examining the market reaction (in terms of bidder announcement period abnormal returns) to acquisition announcements made by firms with and without MLS in their ownership structure. Using an international sample of acquisition announcements made by firms with at least one large shareholder from 10 Western European and 5 East Asian countries between 1996 and 2000, we find the presence of MLS, their voting rights, relative voting power, the number of blockholders and the relative voting power of these blockholders have a positive and significant impact on bidder announcement period abnormal returns. We also find that the legal institutions such as disclosure requirement, investor protection, common-law legal origin and anti-self-dealing have positive effects on bidder announcement period abnormal returns.

The organic wheat supply chain in Canada operates in a relatively new sector for which there is very little public information to aid in price discovery. Organic wheat producers must use available information in order to decide when to sell their wheat and whom to sell to. The relatively low degree of market information, especially for producers, suggests a problem of information asymmetry, which may have ramifications for efficiency and the distribution of rents in the organic wheat supply chain. The literature on Transaction Cost Economics, Agency Theory and the Economics of Information is used in the thesis to theorize differences between methods of selling organic wheat that vary in terms of vertical coordination. The analysis involves a comparison of selling to large and small grain companies, selling through Producer-Owned Firms (POFs) and selling directly to processors. The theory predicts that producers gain from using a POF because of savings in transaction costs and higher prices. These theorized differences in transaction costs and price are due to increased sharing of information between the producer and the marketing agent, enhanced producer control over the marketer, and incentive for the marketer to provide producers with a high price. These benefits can also be realized by selling directly to a processor, but only if the producer can effectively and efficiently perform his or her own marketing functions. Average cost, price and profit margins are used as a metric for comparing each of the four governance structures. A survey of organic wheat producers in Saskatchewan was undertaken in order to collect data on organic Hard Red Spring Wheat (HRSW) transactions. The results indicate that governance structure has a statistically significant effect on organic HRSW prices and on producer transaction costs. The analysis concludes that the producer receives the greatest profit margin from selling through the vertically coordinated POF, while a marketer receives the greatest profit margin if it operates as a large grain company and purchases HRSW on the spot market. The results also suggest that organic producers that eliminate the middleman and sell directly to processors cannot market as efficiently and effectively compared with producers that use a POF. The results of this thesis emphasize that increased coordination between producer and marketer through a POF can be advantageous for the producer, but not necessarily for the marketer, due to the difference in the distribution of rents.

My dissertation contributes to the accountability literature in international relations by examining the role constituents' preferences can potentially play in fomenting or constraining coercive foreign policies in democracies. In times of international crises, domestic audiences have specific coercive foreign policy preferences and will support executives who represent them when selecting coercive foreign policies. Executive actions will increase popular support or generate audience costs depending on whether these actions are consistent with the specific policy preferences that domestic audiences have given the threat a crisis poses to national security. To determine when audiences prefer economic or military coercion and how these preferences affect their evaluation of the executive I conduct three experiments, including a survey experiment conducted with a representative sample of Americans and an experiment conducted with a convenience sample in the United Kingdom. The results show interesting similarities and differences between the cross-national samples regarding foreign policy preferences and the public's propensity to support and punish leaders during times of international conflict. Mainly, I find that (1) the concept of audience costs can be expanded to cases of economic coercion, (2) under certain circumstances audience costs operate even in crises that are not very salient and (3) when there is a mismatch between public preferences and threats issued by the executive, audience costs do not operate at all.

We investigate whether multiple large shareholders (MLS) play an internal corporate governance role in mitigating agency problems between the controlling shareholder and minority shareholders in a cross-country sample of public firms. We draw our conclusion by examining the market reaction (in terms of bidder announcement period abnormal returns) to acquisition announcements made by firms with and without MLS in their ownership structure. Using an international sample of acquisition announcements made by firms with at least one large shareholder from 10 Western European and 5 East Asian countries between 1996 and 2000, we find the presence of MLS, their voting rights, relative voting power, the number of blockholders and the relative voting power of these blockholders have a positive and significant impact on bidder announcement period abnormal returns. We also find that the legal institutions such as disclosure requirement, investor protection, common-law legal origin and anti-self-dealing have positive effects on bidder announcement period abnormal returns.

As one of the oldest and most innovative financial institutions, a clearinghouse efficiently clears and settles payments for equity transactions as well as other securities. However, this paper will only be concerned with common and preferred equity securities. The purpose of a clearinghouse is to reduce counterparty risk. It acts as an intermediary between two parties, so that the risk of one party failing to honor its contractual obligation is diminished. It reduces settlement risk through netting, the process of eliminating offsetting transactions, thus decreasing the amount of cash flow. I examine the impact of the New York Stock Exchange Clearinghouse upon its establishment in May 1892. Specifically, I analyze the clearinghouse’s effect on trading costs for different equity securities, scrutinizing the effects on bid-ask spreads. I find that once a firm joined the NYSE clearinghouse, both its relative and absolute bid-ask spreads are narrowed, representing an overall reduction in spreads of 5.28 percent.